Video of new spectator mode in Battlefield 4

If there’s been one criticism of eSports, it comes down to spectator value in games other than MOBA. As much as people might enjoy watching competitive Battlefield 3, it is difficult to shout cast, and without shout casting, there is limited spectator value. EA and DICE are addressing this issue in the new Battlefield

Already officially announced on the Battlefield blog, Spectator Mode will add a variety of new features. These include First Person, Third Person, Tabletop and Freecam Views. Each view has merits and switching between them is quick and easy. While First Person and Third Person views are fairly straight forward, Tabletop view gives an overview of the big and small aspects of the battle. The biggest innovation is Freecam:

So one criteria for making a great Spectator Mode for Battlefield 4 was to have several Freecams, since you need the ability to fly around and switch positions quickly. This is also true for the competitive world, where having just one Freecam can easily make you miss parts of the action. If you look at shoutcasting of competitive gaming, you can’t always see where the action is. Sure, you get information based on the kill feed, but you can’t always see what’s going on around the corner. So in the Battlefield 4 Spectator Mode, you will get a combination of many different view modes and camera angles – making it great for competitive games.

But, what would this look like? Well, the guys at EA and DICE were curious and set up a twitch stream to give it a whirl. For those interested in watching, here is the YouTube video with commentary from big names like Daskro.:

What are the implications of Spectator Mode? Well, we can definitely see some fantastic growth potential in competitive play as a result. But it actually goes way deeper than that. Running on Frostbite 3, we can expect Spectator Mode in Battlefield 4 to set the standards for all future Frostbite 3 games. The guys over at DICE are excited about this – maybe we’ll even be seeing spectating in Battlefront. Also, this will help all those guys over on twitch who are already streaming a ton of content. All in all, it’s great to see that eSports are important to developers at all stages of the process – I’m excited to see the impact this will have on eSports, particularly MOBA.

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Wielding my lasso of truth, I am the combination of nerd passion and grammar nazi. I delve into all things awesome and geek-tastic. I believe people should stop defining themselves and just enjoy playing games, so let's get on with it!

Love the fact that people are embracing eSports so much, and with the right shout-cast you can get into a game emotionally just as much as rugby or soccer (football).

B4d R0b0t

Yes virtual + 1 sent to you!

Her Highness the Hipster

that’s the thing, shoutcasting is essential. makes a game accessible and interesting

Admiral Chief Ninja

This is too bloody cool!

Now all I need is a couch, a stack of beer, some biltong and I’m all set!

Fair usage John

No need to invite company. Beer should attract them…

DOA

Spectator mode is really pretty cool. I used it a few times during the BF4 beta. I am
probably going to use it for learning how to play the game better 🙂 by
watching players that are allot better than myself.

Uberutang

Will this not be abused?

Teamspeak + spectator mode = no surprises, ever.

DOA

They said there will be a delay (was no delay in the beta though) to stop “cheaters” and other similar minded people from being able to abuse it. There will also be an option on the hosting server as far as I know, so it could be turned off..